NTKG, Reporting

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It’s been ten years since Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered. Still, there has been no federal legislation to prosecute hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Last year, both houses of Congress passed a historic hate crimes bill known as the Matthew Shepard Act (officially, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007), which would have outlawed hate crimes nationwide based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. But the legislation never made it to President Bush’s desk because of his veto threat.
Here is his father’s courtroom statement to his murderers.

One night last March, I sat down next to Judy Shephard at dinner. I told her how much that she, a woman I’d never met, but felt like I’d known since i was 14 years old, meant to me. I thanked her for continuing to get up every single day to make sure that people like her son didn’t have to live in fear. That people like me, who have been victimized, shouldn’t have to live a life wondering what’s going to pop out of the next corner, or who is standing behind them at a bar, or what somebody in a passing car is going to shout out the window. I thanked Judy for giving me the hope and belief that only a passionate and loving mother can instill. Mrs. Shephard sat, listened to my story and asked how I was that day. Inside, I was a mess, and still am. But sitting next to her, I felt perfectly safe, and more importantly comfortably proud.